Sony have announced a new “Cross-Buy” feature for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.

This is exactly what it sounds like—if a game is on both systems, you can buy it for the PlayStation 3 and get the Vita version for free. It isn’t completely clear whether this applies to both retail and download versions yet.

The first game that will officially be part of the Cross-Buy catalogue is PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, along with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and Ratchet & Clank: QForce.

Sony shared at Gamescom this morning that more titles with Cross-Buy functionality will be available in the future as well.

Update: Correction. It appears that this only works one way—you buy the PS3 version and get the Vita version free.

Wow Sony really is stepping its game up, it makes me happy that I already have a Vita now.

Zetsomaru

And just like that, I’m in love with my VITA again.

Domii

This is great news.

Rentekabond

Wait, let’s be 100% sure on this. When I was watching the Conference, he said that if you buy the PS3 version, you’ll get the Vita one for free, which I don’t quite think is the same as just Buy 1- get one free, considering the Vita one is inherently a cheaper price.

Neophoton

It’d be nice if it extends to games like Dragon’s Crown and ZOE’s collection. Saves me the question of which platform to buy those games on, such as Sly 4!

This is actually pretty great, I must say, and was the highlight of the show for me. I mainly play stuff on my PS3 anyway, so at least this gives my Vita something to do!

Zonic505

Great move on Sony’s part. I’m much more motivated to get Sly Cooper & PS All-Stars. Now I just hope this expands to 3rd party games as well. Though I wonder if you get the physical copy or a download voucher for the Vita version (I’m expecting the latter).

The cross purchase feature has already been in effect with PSN games, just not retail games. They’ve announced this previously for Ruin, now Warrior’s Lair,(which still doesn’t have a release date,) but looks like they’re announcing it again. An example is Wipeout HD and Fury. Once the DLC became available for Wipeout 2048, if you own Wipeout HD and Fury on the PS3, whichever piece you own, whether it’s HD, or HD and Fury, became free DLC for the Vita.

For those who like to purchase physical copies of games, Sony should include a voucher for the Vita game inside the box. Maybe Sony could offer these vouchers as a sort of limited time deal, so as long as whoever picks the games up at the $60 price range, they’re going to get a voucher, but more than likely if they pick one up at a lower price, they might get a printing that doesn’t included the voucher.

I dislike digital and if there’s a PS3 and Vita version, then more than likely I’m going to purchase the PS3 version. Having a voucher for the Vita version included is a big plus in my opinion.

Sony can offer a free digital copy because it doesn’t cost anything to “make” a digital copy. If you want an extra physical box and disc/cartridge you can’t expect Sony to give it away to you for free. They could sell a combo pack that costs 20$ more but I don’t think most people will buy these over the normal editions.

kupomogli

“For those who like to purchase physical copies of games, Sony should include a voucher for the Vita game inside the box.”

Revorse

Can they make a profit this way? I mean a PS3 game is about $60 and a Vita game is about $40. That’s sorta like giving away $40 isn’t it?

Laharl

Most People wouldn’t buy the same game twice at full price (Besides Zelda Fans)

So adding a free copy seems more likely to push units.

Locklear93

And Disgaea fans. <_< I've lost track of how many Disgaea 1 variants I have… <_<

neo_firenze

Bingo. Beyond a very small percentage of extremely hardcore fans who love a game enough to buy the same game in multiple formats, most people won’t double-dip. However, people who are on the fence about buying the game in either format may well be swayed by the VERY nice feature of getting a portable version of the game along with their PS3 game purchase.

It’s worked for me already. I was interested but not quite sure about PS All-Stars for PS3, but now knowing I’ll also get the Vita version is enough to push me over the edge.

James Smith

This is really cool, and I’m guessing it’ll be a good help for the Vita.
Eventually such features will become a necesity, but I wasn’t really expecting Sony of all people to push it.

Another user in the same household can still use the Vita while using the same account. Account switching has nothing to do with this.

$30632660

@papped:disqus Yeah, that’s why I said “I don’t see people going out to BUY A VITA” in my other post.

If the person already has Vita or someone they know already has a Vita that they’d be willing to give their account info and let them download the game using their account then this is good for them.

But to keep that game that person still has to use that account.What about their own personal account? What if they had games or other things on it? They wouldn’t be able to use that on the Vita unless they use factory reset.

zweii

He did say household. A person playing in a PS3 can use a different accounts other than the account used to download either game. So a PS3 user can play against a Vita user with different accounts.

Alex Sargeant

Super excited about this. I’d love this to be the case for all PS3/Vita games. Like MGS2/3HD, as cool as it is to own versions I can play on the go, it’s just not a huge incentive to pay for them again. Getting both for paying the highest price makes me incredibly happy AND think Sony are totally badass.

Of course we’re actually talking about Sly Cooper here. But it still applies, because it’s god damn Sly Cooper.

neo_firenze

Was already buying PS3 Sly Cooper, and was on the fence about “PBR” (come on guys, this needs to be the accepted abbreviation) but this will push me over the edge.

Say what you will about Sony, but to me they clearly have a better plan than MS or Nintendo with some of their new strategies like this cross-buy plan, PSN Plus (the free games are a fan-freaking-tastic way to give that service real value), and the forward thinking Gaikai acquisition.

Kris

I agree, choices like this will probably actually inspire me to pick up PBR (I like this abbreviation), which I might have avoided earlier. My Vita must be fed, and if I get a PS3 game in the process, so be it!

Eh not bad but it will be getting a digital code for free, not physical, which is nice but I’m a collector. There is really no way to enforce this physical wise unless there will be bundles where the ps3 and vita version are factory sealed together.

Repede91

I have been looking forward to something like this since the Vita launch. If only Capcom would just give me the Vita SFxT as a free bonus for the PS3 version I already own…

Hinataharem

I was hoping for that too. Doesn’t the vita version also come with a voucher for the dlc ? So essentially it would be free dlc

Repede91

It does come with the DLC characters; but I could not resist and I purchased them on PS3 already…

Trepie

This is pretty great, and was something I was hoping would be part of the Vita at launch. Hopefully whenever Dragon’s Crown comes out that game will feature this as well.

Göran Isacson

Gotta wonder if this won’t mean less sales for the Vita… also, is there any way to transfer savefiles between the two formats?

Oh I know you can transfer GAMES between systems, I just don’t know if you can transfer games AND saves forcing you to start all over on each version. If they have the ability to transfer saved progress between both versions, THEN this is a pretty nifty deal.